8 Creative + Healthy Ways to Eat More Beets This Winter

These root veggies add a vibrant hue to your snowy days.

13Shares

Even among people who love beets, most people tend to eat them in the same way: roasted. Roasted beets are certainly delicious and make a great and colorful side dish, but it’s not the only way to enjoy them.

Eating beets in a variety of ways can help you enjoy them more frequently, so you can take advantage of their health benefits (and great taste). Beets are a great source of vitamin C, fiber, and folate. They’re also low in calories and carbs, which can make them useful for a diabetic diet, for example.

Whether you’re stocked with red or golden beets, this root veggie dazzles in these creative recipes:

1. DIY beet chips

Using a mandolin, you can slice thin chips of beets, salt, and roast in the oven or in a dehydrator for beet chips made from scratch. These make a great snack and can help fend off potato chip cravings.

Who knew you could make a dreamy pasta sauce from roasted beets? This zesty and crimson sauce gets a big kick of flavor from parmesan, garlic, fresh thyme, and balsamic vinegar. If the color doesn’t thrill you, the flavor certainly will.

Golden beets, chickpeas, and diced mushrooms create an incredible meatless meatball. (Or, heck, go crazy and use a red beet for beautiful violet meatballs.) These meatless meatballs may help you cut down on red meat, which is a significant contributor to saturated fat in many people’s diets.

While #2 incorporated beets as a pasta sauce, this recipe puts pureed beets right in the dough. Gnocchi are small Italian dumplings that are typically made from either potatoes or flour, but this recipe is made from a combination of roasted beets and chickpea flour (hello, protein!).

Give cabbage a break and try this slaw for colder months. It’s made from shredded beets, carrots, radish, and apples for a hearty, slightly sweet slaw. Bonus: There’s no mayo in sight (it’s tossed in a lemony vinaigrette instead).

If you think emerald-hued basil pesto is gorgeous, wait until you see this beet pesto. It’s made similarly as the standard pesto, but it uses walnuts instead of pricey pine nuts. It’s great on pasta, crackers, toast, sandwiches, and more.